Sometimes it just really messes with me to think about Zuko getting burned.
(Disclaimer: I’m putting warnings in the tags too but just in case, this post is all about Zuko’s abuse and goes into detail about him being burned and why it upsets me so much)
We all know it was bad. Worse than bad, it was pure evil. And we’ve discussed the effect it had on him and how it shaped him as a person.
But I always think about when it happened.
Zuko. He was thirteen. He was this little kid in this arena full of nobles who came to watch a literal child fight a grown man—right the Fire Lord, fight his father. Zuko, terrified out of his mind, heart racing, tears on his face in front of the entire royal court and his family. Zuko, literally begging for forgiveness earnestly and with complete sincerity, hoping, praying that his father would have mercy, just this once.
And then Ozai burned him.
We’ve heard Zuko’s scream, but he was a kid, and he probably screamed a lot more after that. He was in a lot of pain, because could you imagine?? He was probably thrashing around, trying to pull himself away. He was probably crying out and begging even more.
He probably passed out form the pain.
He probably woke up in a medical room with a bandage over his eye, and the entire left side of his face seething in pain.
He probably noticed pretty quickly that his uncle was the only one he knew there. And that he wasn’t in the palace.
We know Ozai is a monster. But it just enrages me to know that he knew what he did to Zuko. Ozai thought Zuko deserved it. He burned his own child’s face and banished him from his home, then sent him on a fool’s errand at sea. He did that and was happy with it.
Iroh had to deal with the aftermath of some serious trauma. There must’ve been nightmares. There must’ve been days where Zuko woke up and broke down because he thought it had all been a dream. And Zuko lashed out at Iroh and insulted him, shouted at him, all because of Ozai.
It makes me mad. And it makes me glad that Ozai ended up in a cell, living with his defeat and Zuko’s ascension to the throne.
Like,,, Zuko’s backstory isn’t just sad, it’s downright horrifying.
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